Battersea Bridge - Still Closed

Just a quick note to say that Battersea Bridge is going to be closed for a while yet following the incident on Tuesday night, when a gravel barge crashed into it.

Initially it was thought the bridge would be able to reopen straight away but now it looks like it could be shut to traffic for weeks or maybe months.

At the moment it looks like Chelsea and Albert bridges are expected to take the bulk of the diverted traffic but you can find the latest news from Transport for London here.

Weirdly Battersea bridge has been cropping up in the broadsheets with some regularity in the past few weeks. Specifically in the Times.

Two weeks ago we found out (thanks to this review of Travis Elborough's book on the Routemasters) that "if you take a bus at full tilt over Battersea Bridge (southbound), you encounter a dip at the bottom of the incline that makes the bus bounce like crazy. And if the bus is empty it bounces even better."

Remind us to test that out some day.

And today the Times informs us that there are students living under the bridge. Not in cardboard boxes you understand, but in boats:

WHEN JACK FINNIGAN, an Edinburgh graduate, moved to London, his expectations were high. With a job in the shipping industry neatly lined up, he presumed his days of living in overcrowded, shabby, student digs were over. One year on, the reality is very different. Hard pressed to find an affordable flat in London, Jack lives on a boat under Battersea Bridge with three others. He pays rent of £400 a month despite the primitive sanitary arrangements.

If you have any Battersea Bridge trivia feel free to share it with us in the comments section.